Stranded
by Lika Amanaka
Summary: When stranded on a deserted island, the Gboys must face an unknown evil if they ever want to get off the island alive! Slight swearing and NON YAOI with little bits of suspense thrown in! COMPLETED!
1. Prologue

**Authoress Note:  **Hey peeps! I'm back! Ok, so now I have a permanent name. It was originally Strawberry Sweetness, but that's not totally original (other people have similar names- I want something special & unique).

Duo pops up, "But I like Strawberries! Strawberries are unique! They're red and small and sweet…"

Any who, here's my 2nd story and I hope you all like it. If you do, REVIEW! (Hehehe…that rhymes! Who's good? I'm good.) Peace out ^__^

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters so leave me alone!**

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STRANDED!

          "Hehehe…Game time!" Duo screamed as he logged onto the Internet. He'd been itching to play this new online game forever. With the week he's been through, it's no wonder he's so happy. 

          "Hi, I'm the infamous Trowa Barton and today-" 

          "INFAMOUS! YOU! Since when Barton?" 

          "Since I was never on the bottom of the Most Liked Gundam Pilots Poll, now go away Wufei!"

          "I will Barton, but first tell me what do you think you are doing?" 

          "Telling our story- you know, the one about us being trapped on that deserted island all week."

          "Stranded Barton, not bloody trapped ok? What are-?"

          "Hush! You're making our readers bored! Ok, so where was I? Right. Hi I'm the infamous Trowa Barton and today I'm narrating the fanfic Stranded.  Please pay attention as I'm only going to tell this story once.

          So it was a bright sunny day. A normal day in every way. At least it was until the Internet addict work up.

          "Shit! I'm late; I'm late for a very important date!"

          I knew I should've never let him watch Alice in Wonderland, but Quatre was absolutely against letting him watch Jaws again. The last time he watched Jaws he pretended he was the shark and the fridge was his target. Naturally it took us a good part of the day to clean up the kitchen. 

The "him" I'm referring to in none other than Shinigami himself- Duo Maxwell. He jumped out of bed like a bat out of hell. He was trying to pull his shirt over his head, while walking -scratch that- running down the stairs. His hair was all over the place instead of in his usual braid. Yep, he definitely looked like crap this morning. 

"Shit! Why didn't you guys wake me up! I'm so late!" Duo screamed as he yanked open the fridge, grabbed the first thing he saw and sped onto the computer-MY computer. Yeah, everyone is over at my place this weekend. Oh joy….

"Duo, what are you late for?" Quatre asked as he was flicking through the channels on the TV hoping to find something interesting to watch that he hadn't already seen.

"Don't you remember Winner?" Wufei answered. He had taken over my favourite chair, and knowing him, I wouldn't get it back until after he left. "Maxwell's only been babbling about this new online game premiere for three weeks." 

"Damn. There are a billion people playing already. I knew it! Now I'll have to wait for the next game that's in-" He leaned back on the chair's legs to get a better view of the stove clock- "9 hours!!!!!"

"Well that shouldn't be that hard. You've been waiting for 3 weeks. 9 more hours shouldn't be that hard." Heero stated. Duo looked like he was about to throw a MAJOR hissy fit.  

"Well, EXCUSE ME! Mr-antisocial-couldn't-care-less-if…" Duo stopped when the flash of a pop-up ad caught his eyes. "Hellooo, what's this?" 

"What's what?" Quatre jumped off the sofa, glad for the opportunity to do something besides watching TV, considering he had gone through every channel some odd 25 times. 

Quatre leaned over Duo's shoulder as Duo read

What would you do if you were stranded on a deserted island? What would you bring with you if you had a chance to choose? We have the answers right here for your convenience. Just click on the link provided below.

Duo and Quatre exchanged glances.

"Should we?" Duo asked

"I don't see why not." Quatre replied.

"Hey TROWA!!!!" They both yelled.

I cringed. "Yes?"

"You don't mind if we click on this, right?" 

"No, not at all."

"Great, thanks Trowa."

**AN: **Sorry for the cliffhanger guys. Review and tell me what you think of the beginning. It's not as funny now because I'm trying to set up the plot, but it'll improve in the next chapter. Bye 4 Now


	2. Interesting Beginnings

Stranded Chapter 2 – Interesting beginnings

**Remember, Trowa's narrating the story!!!**

**Recap:** "Hey TROWA!!!!" They both yelled.

I cringed. "Yes?"

"You don't mind if we click on this, right?"

"No, not at all."

"Great, thanks Trowa."

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            When Duo clicked on the link, the page zoomed right out of view. "Oh oh. Was that supposed to happen?" He asked just as the website rebooted and flashed onto the screen.

_Thank you for choosing SHADY as your one stop travel agency. Let us help you with your vacation decisions. You'll never regret a decision made by us._

"Sure we won't," Quatre rolled his eyes. He never believed Internet ads, they were all backstabbing liars and no one knew that better than Quatre. I remember this one time…at band camp…hehehe, sorry, I couldn't help it. Adding stupid things like that always makes a story more interesting. I may be Trowa Barton, but I am NOT boring. Anyway, like I was saying, Quatre tried ordering his sisters' birthday presents off some website. Not only did they not deliver the gifts, but they also stole his money. Ever since then, Quatre has been wary of buying things off the Internet. But I'm getting off topic again.

Quatre took the mouse from Duo and manoeuvred it to the Q&A section. "Let's just see how much help they _can_ give us."

"What are you doing?" Heero came over. Wufei wasn't far behind. It seems like boredom had finally kicked in. They were actually interested in the shenanigans of Quatre and Duo. That's a first. Wufei leaned closer to the screen as Heero read the instructions aloud.

_"If you were stranded on a deserted island what would you bring with you if you had a chance to choose? We have all the answers. The top 5 things to bring are: matches (you want to be warm and have light, don't you?), fresh water (you're not likely to survive long if you drink salt water), tents (unless you can build a house out of sand and leaves because there aren't any 5 star hotels), non perishable food (there isn't going to be a fridge with food just waiting for you), and a book (to pass the time waiting for a rescue party)."_

"Wow! They're pretty sarcastic aren't they?" Duo pointed out when Heero finished.

"This is stupid! With our technology, we don't even need their useless suggestions." Wufei exclaimed. Man, this guy has a problem with everyone, doesn't he? The other boys cleared off and went back to whatever they were doing before. Duo stayed on the computer. I went back to the kitchen. Duo's a big boy, he can handle himself, I thought to myself. Big mistake! You'll see why in a second.

"Hey. This looks interesting," Duo had found a page where you could fill out a form. He scanned its contents, and then imputed his information. Exactly an hour later, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" I called out. It was my house after all. But when I opened the door, there wasn't a person in sight. I was about to turn back when something on the floor caught my eye. "Hmm, what's this" I picked the white envelope up. Strange. No address, no logo. Nada. Nothing.

"Wahoo! They came!" Duo yelled as he skids past me, swiping the strange envelope out of my hands. Oh no.

"What came?" Heero raised an eyebrow (hey, he stole my move!). Heero could sense it too. I think everyone who has lived with Duo knows how to sense the dangers Duo manages to bring about.

"The travel agency sent the plane tickets I applied for!" Duo had ripped open the envelope, and lo and behold, there really were five plane tickets inside it. "I filled out a form and they sent me these, free of charge. This is a sure fire way of never getting stranded on an island." He flashed us his goofy grin.

"And just how is this 'plan' of yours supposed to work?" Quatre was sceptical…the whole getting things off the Internet thing still sits in the back of his mind.

"Oh. It said that we keep these tickets with us all the time, and if we ever need to get out of trouble, we just flash these babies and we're on the next plane home." He paused. "Why are you all staring at me like that? It'll come in handy, you'll see." He retired to his bedroom, leaving us behind.

"Right, like we'll ever need to rely on Maxwell's 'foolproof' plan." Wufei stated. As it turns out, we were supposed to fly over to the Sanc Kingdom this week end for Relena's reunion. My initial thought was: why do I feel uneasy about this entire thing?


	3. What Are The Odds?

Stranded Chapter 3 – What are the odds

Disclaimer: For this chapter I was inspired by the book _Lord of the Flies_. It's a great classical book and I encourage everyone to read it. The events are slightly similar to what I wrote but are **_not_ **the same as the book. With that said have fun reading!

**Recap:** "Right, like we'll ever need to rely on Maxwell's 'foolproof' plan." Wufei stated. As it turns out, we were supposed to fly over to the Sanc Kingdom this week end for Relena's reunion. My initial thought was: why do I feel uneasy about this entire thing?

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As it turns out I had good reason to feel ill at ease. Oh, the rest of the week went by ok. My sister came to see us off at the airport and everything. Yeah, I was starting to hate myself for feeling so paranoid. I mean Relena was supplying the private plane AND pilot to fly us over. Why was I so nervous? We were probably only on the plane for half an hour before the trouble started. You know the cliché 'we're experiencing technical difficulties' line? Well, that's exactly what the pilot said. Geez, is it that hard for them to find a new tagline? I'm a pilot too, but you don't hear me saying stupid one liners like that.

Apparently, the engines (two out of the three that we had) stopped working. We were out of our seats in a minute. With us all crammed in the cockpit, it was hard to do anything. While we tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with the plane's engines, the little nerd squeezed through us, stole a parachute, and jumped from the plane. Just wait until I see the little _beep_ again.

"We're gonna crash!!!" Duo shouted. "Take cover!"

Me and the boys grabbed the remaining parachutes and made a jump for it. By the looks of the mountain ahead, if we stayed, we'd be mushier than a bunch of bananas. I remember seeing the plane slam into the mountain, fireworks emanating from the wreckage as I flew through the air. I resurfaced from the water, thanking the lord for supplying that much for us, and looked around. The others were scattered in the water all around me. Shouts of 'are you okay' went around as we looked at our surroundings.

"Well, at least there's land nearby." Quatre pointed east towards a tropical looking island. Great! Dry land. No wait a minute. This isn't right.

"What the hell are the odds of that?" Wufei voiced what I was thinking. Wasn't it just this week that we scoffed at the idea of being stranded on a deserted island? We swam over to the welcoming beach. Exhausted by the sudden turn of events, I lay there trying to catch my breath. Then the light bulb switched on. "Hey! Duo! Your tickets can get us out of here right?"

"Oh yeah! See, I told you guys it would come in handy."

"You jinxed us Maxwell." Wufei stared at the clear blue sky. He didn't seem particularly mad at the moment though.

"Speaking of said tickets, where are they Duo?" Quatre looked over to see Duo's facial expression change from being excited to looking mortified. "Duo? Where are they?!?" Now Quatre looked panicked. I feel a chain reaction coming on…..

Duo gulped as he slowly pointed to the mountain where the plane crashed landed.

"Oh, HELL NO!" Heero shouted as he quickly stood up. "The tickets are NOT burning on that plane Duo. Tell me you DID NOT leave them in your suitcase." Duo could only nod his affirmation to Heero's outburst. I stood up to hold Heero back.

"Hey what's the matter Heero; you were the one who said going to Relena's reunion would be a waste of time." I grunted with the effort of holding him back. For a scrawny little boy, he sure is strong.

"I wasn't going to the reunion to see _her_! I had a match to settle with that brother of hers. Zechs beat me at table tennis last time and this time I promised to dish out a world of pain on him -" Heero fell face first into the sand when I let go of him. Honestly, some guys never learn when to give up.

I shook my head, "So now what?" I asked.

"Well, considering the fact that we're stranded on a deserted island with nothing to do, I suggest that we make ourselves at home, do a little exploring…" Quatre ticked off the options.

"…find some food..." Duo added.

Boring, boring, boring….. "Hey guys, if it's not too much trouble, I'm going to check out the wreckage, see if anything can be salvaged, I'll be back in…Oh wait, my watch stopped…whatever, I'll be back whenever. Hey Heero, want to come along? I may need your help bringing things back. You kids play nice while I'm gone" I added mockingly. Knowing Wufei and Duo, they'll be at each others throats with Quatre in between trying to stop them.

"You know this would never have happened if you didn't click on that stupid link Duo?" Quatre accused.

"Are you saying this is MY entire fault Quatre?" Duo countered.

"Yes Duo, yes I am. You even went as far as getting those pointless 'tickets' and everything. Look how useful those are. They'll really get us far, burned to smithereens!!!" Quatre was yelling now. Keep in mind I didn't know any of this happened until I got back some odd three hours later. Wufei told me everything, considering the fact that he sat there watching the show without lifting so much as a finger to stop the two of them from going at it. In a way, I don't blame him. It's a rare occasion indeed when Quatre actually gets mad at Duo. Usually, he's trying to save the Braided Wonder.

"Oh yeah? Well, I don't see you trying to keep us out of trouble with all the money you've got, Mister Rich & Snobby!" Duo shouted.

"I didn't want it to go this far, but if this is how you want to fight, then so be it! You're so poor, when someone stepped on a cigarette, you said, 'Oh damn, there goes my furnace.'" Quatre finished with a smirk. The astonished look on Duo's face showed how shocked he was that the normally nice blond could even come up with something like that.

Duo put his mind in high gear; Quatre was apparently skilled in the art of 'Disses'and Duo didn't like the idea of being showed up by some rich boy. "Well, you're so ugly you look like you fell out of the UGLY Tree, hitting every branch on the way down!"

          Wufei snorted. This was getting good. Duo touched a nerve that time.

          Quatre glared at Wufei, and then turned back towards Duo. "Oh I know you didn't just say my family has ugly people. Tell me you didn't just say I come from an ugly family. Because if you did…" Quatre made a violent gesture in the air.

Duo smirked. He may not have had adequate training in the art of 'disses' but he grew up on the streets, fighting was second nature to him. Well besides eating anyway. "You want to fight pretty boy? Bring – it – ON!"

Duo charged at Quatre who ducked, spun, and then landed a kick to Duo's lower back, sending the boy in black into the soft, sandy ground. Duo jumped up and shook the sand off. Wufei was thoroughly enjoying this. As he told me later, this beat watching WWE any day.

Duo tried charging at Quatre again. This time Quatre stood his ground, putting up his hands in a "would be" attempt to punch Duo. But at last minute, Quatre dropped to the ground and tripped Duo instead, sending the other boy hurling into the sand for the second time in a row.

"Is that all you've got? I thought you were the 'Great Shinigami?'" Quatre had to know he'd pay for that one. Duo popped up and sucker punched Quatre straight in the face. Quatre in turn gave Duo a nasty upper cut after recovering from Duo's punch.

According to Wufei, this kind of thing went on for quite a while, until both boys fell to the sand, completely exhausted and bleeding freely. Throughout the entire thing all Wufei did was watch them! The least he could've done was try to stop them.

"Hey Quatre," Duo began, "how much glue have you been sniffing?"

"Not glue, steroids." Quatre answered with a small smile.

"No seriously man, where did you learn how to fight and exhaust your opponents like that?" Duo said while massaging his sore muscles.

"Well, when you're a 'rich, snobby brat' you need to know how to defend yourself in case of a kidnapping or something." Quatre replied, laying his head on the warm sand. He looked up at the sky. The setting sun was sending a gorgeous display of colour to every corner it could reach.

Meanwhile, Heero and I were searching through the wreck that was our plane. Nothing could be found, nothing could be saved. I managed to find Duo suitcase…I think. But it's no use to us without the tickets inside.

"Hey! What the hell was that?!?" Heero's outburst nearly gave me a heart attack, the sudden noise made me jump a foot in the air.

"What? What was what?" I asked, whirling around to get a better view of whatever startled him. He pointed somewhere above my head and to the right. I turned. "I don't see anything Heero. Are you sure you're oka - aaaaaahhhhhhh!"

"You know, I'm sorry I said all those mean things to you. You didn't deserve it." Quatre looked over to Duo who was playing in the sand.

"Same here. I guess I went a little overboard. Hey, haven't Heero and Trowa been gone a while? Shouldn't they be back by now?" Duo asked, turning to look towards the mountain. There was thick foliage at the base of the mountain, even if you used binoculars, you couldn't see through it. That was where Heero and I came running out of screaming our heads off. Wufei aka Mr. Overly Observant But I'll Never Step In To Help said we looked like little babies running away from Santa Claus. My only counter (and Heero's too, now that I think of it) is that if I had had my Gundam, I'd have blown that thing to hell with all I had.

          "What happened to you guys?" Quatre asked.

          "What happened to _you_ guys?" was Heero's reply after he glanced at the bloody boys.

          "Not important. You go first." Duo agreed with Quatre.

          "There's something weird living in there. By the way, we couldn't save anything from the wreckage, we'll have to improvise." He sounded back to normal.

          It didn't take us long to divide the chores amongst ourselves. Within an hour, we had a toasty fire going and something of a shelter halfway built. Heero and I told them of the 'thing' we saw, or didn't see considering how fast it disappeared. My only hope is that we get off this island before we find out what that "thing" actually is.


	4. SOS

Stranded Chapter 4 – S.O.S.

**Recap: **My only hope is that we get off this island before we find out what that "thing" actually is.

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A stiff breeze blew through the trees as the sun set behind the mountain. I'm not one to scare easily, but after 48 hours of being trapped on this dingy little island…well, let's just say odd things have been happening. Let me describe the events that's taken place.

On the first night we all crowded together near the roaring fire. We were all on high alert, especially since Heero and I told the others that something weird lived on this island. Maybe it was a harmless creature, but our soldier instincts told us to be prepared.

"What was that?" Duo whirled around and stared into the dark forest.

"Relax. It's probably just the wind blowing through the leaves." Heero didn't look as confident as he sounded. See what I mean? This is really starting to get to us.

"Did you hear that? A weird noise, it came from in there." Duo pointed behind us, straight into the heart of the forest. Ever notice how creepy and dark spaces are always home to sinister creatures? Yeah well, this is probably no exception to the rule. "Go look." Duo demanded, not taking his eyes off the 'spot'.

"Oh for heaven's sake Maxwell don't be such a wet blanket," Wufei sighed. "Fine! I'll go look. It's not like I'll find anything" He added to himself as he gently brushed the sand off his pants. He strode towards the undergrowth, and parted it between the leaves. "Nothing here. Nothing over there. And, oh look! A cute little squirrel." He smirked and looked at us over his shoulder.

"Ask it which way the talking llama went!" Duo countered, quoting a line from his favorite Disney movie, The Emperor's New Groove. Man, Duo will quote anything when given the chance.

Wufei was about to return when something caught his eye. He quickly disappeared into the undergrowth. "Wufei! What is it?" Quatre asked while he and Heero quickly walked over to the spot where Wufei had been standing only a few seconds ago.

"Um, guys. I think you'd better come and see this for yourselves." Wufei's muffled voice reached us. Duo and I glanced at each other. Ok, whatever Wufei found obviously wasn't going to be anything good. We parted the bushes and stepped through one by one.

"Whew! It sure is dark in here." Heero wasn't kidding. What little moonlight we had was mostly blocked out by the leaves, sending an eerie glow into the darkness.

Wufei was a little way in, stooping over something. "I'm no biologist, but this looks suspicious." He said while was using a stick to gently prod the object. It rolled into a patch of moonlight.

"Aaaaahhhhhh!" We all turned and ran for it. We didn't stop until we were almost at the water's edge.

"A skull, it was a human skull!" Quatre shrieked Poor guy was trembling all over.

"Now let's… not be too… hasty." I started, trying to catch my breath. "It could be…some sort of primate, a monkey if you will."

"Oh great…a monkey. Well, whenever you feel like telling us what ate Mr. Monkey, please don't hesitate to say." Duo sarcastically added before letting himself fall into the sand.

"It could have been a big cat, like a mountain lion or a jaguar." Heero stated. "If it were brighter, I'd have stayed to get a better look at the surroundings."

"Oh how nice, a giant sized kitty! And look, we're just a large meaty buffet waiting to be eaten up by Mr. Kitty. Isn't that wonderful?" Duo's a never-ending bucket of sarcasm, isn't he? Oh well, I've heard having humour in dark times can actually help lighten the situation. Let's hope so, 'cause the way things are going we may be here a while.

That was just the first night. In the morning of the second day, Quatre and Wufei demanded to see the area where Heero and I first encountered a similar event. Duo tagged along too, not wanting to be left behind alone.

The trip to the wrecked plane was uneventful. The wreck seemed to be just as we had left it. The burned luggages were strewn all over the floor, and bits and pieces of the plane was scattered around us just as before. The surrounding area screamed 'spooky' because it was all covered in thick vines and rotting logs.

"There." Heero pointed. "That's where 'it' was."

"There doesn't seem to be anything peculiar about this place. Just a little crowded though." Quatre said. He was riffling through the luggage trying to find anything we might be able to use later.

Wufei and Duo were examining the vine wall when Duo nearly fell through a hole in it. "Cool! Check this out. It looks like a cave. A dark, empty, hollow cave…" He gulped, backing away from the gaping hole.

"No wait!" I grabbed Duo. "This explains where that creature might have disappeared into when we saw it! I'll bet that if we explore this place, it might give us a better idea of what we're up against."

"But how'll we see anything in the dark?" Duo asked. "It's not like we have a flashlight or anything."

"Actually," Quatre turned towards us, smiling. "That won't be a problem." He pulled out a few dried branches from underneath a boulder. "See these branches were dried out by the heat of the fire. All we have to do is use a flint stone and light these babies up!"

"That's a good plan" Wufei started. "But once we're inside the cave, we'll have to hurry because I doubt these torches will last very long." Heero by this time had located a few flint stones.

"What do you guys think we'll find in there?" Quatre asked while handing out the branches to us.

"Maybe nothing," I said as I lit the torch. "Well, here goes." I pushed aside the vines and took the plunge. I could hear the others close behind.

"Creepy, creepy, creepy…ackh!" Duo had collided into a few wet and slimy vines that hung down from the low ceiling. "GROSS! What is this stuff?"

"It's water!" Quatre ran his hands over the slimy rock walls.

"But where's it coming from?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe the water's coming from a secret underground water spring…" Quatre held his torch higher. "Well, it's seeping through these cracks in the ceiling so maybe from somewhere above."

"Guys can we focus a little," Heero had taken over as leader and was far ahead of us. "We're supposed to be look-WHOA!" He froze in his tracks.

"Now what, Yuy?" Wufei muttered. He peered over Heero's shoulders and his eyes opened wide. We had found a little room off of the main pathway and you wouldn't believe what was in there.

"It looks like something's turned this place into their humble abode." Duo began searching through the things.

"Not something. Someone." I said pointing out all the man-made items. A damaged parachute had been turned into a sleeping bag. There was a compass, map, and a water jug on a rock table in a corner. In another corner was a pile of bones, the remains of the person's meal no doubt.

"Wow! You know what this means?" Quatre's face brightened. "It means that we're not the only people stuck on this island!


	5. Surprises!

Stranded Chapter 5 – Surprises!

**Recap: **"Wow! You know what this means?" Quatre's face brightened. "It means that we're not the only people stuck on this island!

          "That's either a good thing…or a bad thing." Heero stated.

          "How's that a bad thing?" Duo asked, still poking through the objects in the cave room.

          "I mean they can help us or they could be cannibalistic tribal warriors."

          "Well, aren't you a jolly happy little child." Duo muttered.

          "Hey! I hate to interrupt your little conversation, but I for one would like to get going. Our torches are dying down." I indicted the steadily growing dimness around us. The others agreed and soon we were following the tunnel, trying to find a way out. I realized only after that it might have been smarter to just get out the way we came in.

          The rest of the day was spent trying to get out of the tunnel. It twisted and turned like a large rabbit's burrow. Half the time I was worried we were going in circles. Finally we spotted a light filtering into the darkness. It seems the passageway opened out to a spot on the beach… not too far from where we were camping out. Already the sun had begun to set.

          "You know what?" Quatre asked as we walked along the edge of the forest, picking fruits off the trees. "We never really thoroughly investigated this island. I mean, we've only been on one side of it."

          "True, but we've been preoccupied." Wufei replied, checking his fruit for deformities.

          "Yes, I know, but we'd be better prepared for things if we knew our surroundings better, what lies behind the forest or what's on the other side of the mountain?"

          "Alright then it's settled." Heero was gathering wood for a fire. "We'll set out tomorrow after breakfast. Darkness will fall within a few hours, so we can't go out now."

          In any case we didn't even have a chance for breakfast. Here's what happened.

          The sun was just peeking over the horizon when I was rudely awakened by a bloodcurdling scream.

          "AAAAAHHHHH!"

          Duo was throwing rocks pell mell into the forest, seemingly trying to hit something. "Take that! And that! That'll teach you to come near me you filthy, disgusting… thing!!!!" 

          "Duo!" Quatre was staring in shock. "What happened?"

          "I woke up and a face was looking back at me. A horrible scratch face with glasses and…You don't believe me? Fine! I'll got find it." He finished and ran into the forest.

          "No! Duo, you don't know what's in there!" I shouted. One minute he's scared as a kid, and then the next minute he's acting like the brave little toaster! I'll never understand that guy.

          Well, we all ran after Duo. Not an easy feat with branches grabbing at your hair, and snagging at your clothes. I could barely keep him in sight, he was running so fast.

          "He's right over hereeeeeeeeee!"

          Duo was disappearing into the ground. I stopped short. Bad idea…never, ever try this at home folks. I stopped short of falling into a large hole in the ground. _Whew_ I thought. And then…Quatre rammed into Heero who bumped into Wufei who smashed into me causing a domino effect and we all tumbled into the hole.

          "Nice one." Duo said. He was leaning against the dirt wall, almost like he was waiting for us to join him.

          "Where are we?" Wufei asked.

          "Hmmm…Let's think. Does a large, dirt hole in the middle of the forest floor sound good to you?" Duo sneered. Boy he definitely woke up on the wrong side of…sand? "That little bugger got away and now we're trapped in a dingy, dirty, and might I mention, tall hole!"

          "That's ok. I've got a plan." Quatre was gazing at the sides of our temporary prison.

          "Oh! A plan!" Duo said in mock happiness. "That's good because it's not like I didn't have a plan or anything."

          "Duo, stop being a smart aleck pain in the rear end! I'm only trying to help! Because once again, YOU, not ME, have winded us into a mess! And you're not helping-"

          "Will both of you just stop!?!" Heero shouted. You see, while Chip and Dale over there were having another temper tantrum PMS induced spat, Heero, Wufei and myself were working on getting us out of the hole. We were standing on each others shoulders, totem pole style, to try and reach the top. One more person should just about reach over the rim of the hole.

          "Do you think this'll work?" Wufei asked, grunting with the effort of holding both myself and Heero above him.

          "This damn well better work or we're totally screwed!" Heero

answered, teetering on the top.

"Ok, now who's lighter? Winner or Maxwell?" Wufei asked.

"That would be me, since Duo's braid adds about 3 tonnes to his original weight." Quatre smirked, looking sideways at Duo who was seething.

"Fine, whatever!" I interrupted when I saw Duo open his mouth to retort. "Just get over here."

It took the combined effort of all five of us, but we finally we got over the edge of the hole, after several attempts, that is. Shaken, tired and hungry, we slowly made our way back to camp. We didn't know it then, but the day was going to be full of surprises.

After a substantial meal of fried fish, fruits and roasted crab meat on a spit, we head back into the forest, cautiously this time. About half an hour away from the unholy hole in the ground, we came to a clearing in the forest.

"What. The forest just ends? Right here, without a warning?" Heero asked, looking over the area.

"Yeah, looks that way." I answered.

"Thank the good, gracious lord! I was getting tired of tramping through that…that thing. My poor braid." Duo grumbled, picking leaves and twigs out of his hair. I caught Quatre's eye, and we both looked away, grinning.

"Well, what are we waiting for, Chinese New Year? Let's go already." The ever impatient Wufei stalked across the bare terrain. We shrugged and followed, scattered around behind him.

"Oh no, no, no, no!"

I looked around. Quatre and Heero, who were walking to my right, were slowly sinking into the apparently hard packed earth. Already they were up to they're knees in it. _Oh no, not quicksand!_ I thought desperately. I made to go over and help them, but I couldn't move. Looking in down in horror I realised, that I too, had unknowingly stepped into the squelching mud.

"Well, I guess we know why the forest just ends." Duo announced. He too, was struggling to free himself from the mucky mess to my left side. Wufei looked on horror-struck. He'd gotten through the clearing with no problem. The rest of us were obviously not as lucky. With each passing second, we were sinking lower into the mire.   

"Well don't just stand there Wuffers! Get us out!" You'd think Duo was smart enough NOT to aggravate Wufei, with the delicate position he was in.

"Call me 'Wuffers' again Maxwell and I swear I'll let you sink to the very depths of this quicksand." Wufei called over his shoulder. He was trying to wrap a large, thick vine around a tree. Clearly we were gonna pull ourselves free. "And stop struggling, you'll sink faster."

"That's equivalent to telling Duo 'stand still while I cut your braid off.'" Heero murmured, standing stock still none the less. One by one, we pulled ourselves out of the sludge with Wufei's help. We sat down on safe ground, relief passing through us.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think this island's got it in for us." Quatre was attempting to wipe some of the muck off.

 Standing up, Duo replied. "What do you mean 'the island's got it in for us'? We didn't hurt it and I for one want off of this creepy, lonely god forsaken spit of land anyway!"

"Let's just keep moving before something else happens." Heero turned onto a narrow, dusty trail leading into more forested ground.

"Like what?"

"Oh I don't know!" Heero answered exasperatedly. "Maybe before your scary squirrel friend comes marching in here with an army." And with that we followed single file behind him. We're not stupid! We're not going to repeat the same mistake twice, you know.

_Chirrup! Chirp! Tweet! Tweet! Twitter! Squeak! _

"Wow! Look at all the birds!"

Look at all the birds was correct. There were hundreds! Ok, I know that's an exaggeration, but it makes for interesting story telling. Everywhere we looked there were birds of all sizes. We seemed to have walked into Birdy Wonderland. And the noise was incredible. Like a large congregation of foreign people all speaking a different language! And might I add, walking beneath birds is also a bad idea. Honestly, I should write a book. _How to Stay Away From Bad Ideas by: Trowa Barton._ I swear I'd make millions in a minute!

The birds were like an arsenal of crap. Literally. They were dropping their…umm…droppings…like some sort of military procedure! We side stepped, turned, ran and even used huge tropical palm-tree like branches for umbrellas. And when Duo shouted at the birds (like that would make them stop; another dumb idea for my book!) they took flight, clumped together and chased us (all squawking and screeching!) to the end of the trail.

"Dammit Duo! Next time…I want…crappy birds…chasing me…I'll **give you a call**!" Quatre was clinging to a tree trying to catch his breath. We were totally exhausted. I mean though crazy birds weren't giving up.

"Yeah Maxwell! Thanks a lot!" Wufei added his two cents worth.

"Shut up Wuffers! It's bad enough I get it from Ritchie Rich over there, I don't need you to -" Duo

"Common guys just give it a rest will you?" I'm always the peace keeper…

"Hey guys." Something in Heero's voice made us all freeze on the spot. _Oh no, what now?_ I thought.

Heero stood at the very edge of the trail, peering through a few leafy branches. "I think I found our scratchy faced friend."

"What!"

Sure enough, sleeping in a makeshift sleeping bag was the guy who piloted our private plane. The nerdy little geek who abandoned us when the planes engines conked out, leaving us for dead.

"So, he landed on the island as well." It was more of a statement than a question that came out of Wufei's mouth.

"Good!" I said. "Now I'll get to pummel him for leaving his 'passengers' to die. That stupid little weakling!" Wow. I gotta be careful. I'm starting to sound a little too much like Wuffers, I mean Wufei!

AN: Well, that's the end of Chapter 5. I'm hoping to wrap this up soon, so maybe there'll be only one more chapter. Anyway, I don't own Disney's Chip & Dale, The Brave Little Toaster or Ritchie Rich. And one more thing…please review and tell me what you think of this chapter, ok? Thanks!


	6. The Beginning of the End of Our Troubles

Stranded Chapter 6 – The Beginning of the End of Our Troubles

**Recap: **"Good!" I said. "Now I'll get to pummel him for leaving his 'passengers' to die. That stupid little weakling!" Wow. I gotta be careful. I'm starting to sound a little too much like Wuffers, I mean Wufei!

The pilot stirred then jumped up when he realized he was no longer alone.

"Good mornin' sunshine!" Duo grinned, an evil glint in his eyes.

"Oh! Hiya fellas. I'm sure glad you guys are alright, what with the plane crashing and all." The pilot, whose name I never bothered to learn, said in his squeaky geek voice.

"Well, that's funny," Quatre started to say in a sarcastic tone. "Because the way you turned tail and ran we thought you didn't give a damn about us."

"Yeah, and I've been waiting a long time to give you a piece of my mind." I added.

"Wait a minute! Don't you want to hear _MY_ side of the story?" The pilot asked.

"No, not really." Heero grumbled.

"I'll make it worth your while."

"I don't care."

"Please hear me out. I've got a good reason for wrecking the plane's engines."

"YOU DID WHAT?!?" We all shouted in unison. This guy is seriously asking for trouble.

"Are you saying that you _deliberately_ crashed the plane on this island Mr. ummm, what is your name anyway?" Quatre asked while struggling to hold me and Duo back.

"Who cares what his name is, let me at him." Duo tried to pull himself free

"I'm gonna thrash him within an inch of his life." I grunted as I tried to pull my self free.

"Wufei! Heero! A little help, please!" Quatre requested. Wufei and Heero took hold of both Duo and myself, relieving Quatre of his burden.

"My name is John, Mr. John Webster. I'm Relena Peacecraft's normal pilot. She sent me to get you guys, but on my way to the airport I received a note. It said to stall for time on my way back with Miss Relena's friends, to crash the plane if I have to." John paused.

"Who sent you the note?" Wufei spoke up.

"I don't know. It wasn't signed."

"But you followed the instructions anyway?!?"

"That's where the story gets a little complicated." John resumed his story. "I decided to show the note to Mr. Milliardo, Relena's brother. Maybe he'd be able to trace its source. Mr. Milliardo asked me if there was, by any chance, an island or hideaway spot that I'd be able to hide the plane. I said that I knew of one island, but I didn't know if it were inhabited or not. He told me to make an emergency landing here, and paid me extra for doing that. That's when I decided to _fake _engine trouble. But something happened and the engines stopped working for real. That's all I know, honest."

As John finished his story he looked around at us. We were shocked, and a little confused. What was all this about?

"So….is Milliardo responsible for us being trapped here?" Duo slowly spoke up.

"I knew it!" Heero shouted, making us all practically jump out of our skins. "He was so scared of me beating him at table tennis he had us waylaid so he could keep his title as the Best Table Tennis Champion with the Coolest Hair Ever!"

Okayyy, Heero's lost it completely. While he sulked in the corner, brooding over his table tennis skills, the rest of us turned to the mystery at hand. Why does everything have to get more complicated before it becomes simple?

We all began walking, continuing down the path we'd been standing on. We discussed the mystery from all angles, but for the life of us, we couldn't figure out anything. The only one who came up with a semi- halfway decent reason was Heero and his whole table tennis thing. But then that would only affect him, not all of us. I personally don't care who has the Best Table Tennis Champion with the Coolest Hair Ever award in his room.

We were all so engrossed with our theories that we didn't even notice that we'd come to the end of our path. The path stopped at the edge of a high cliff, and the biggest surprise of all was waiting for us here.

A city. A very large city. A very large and beautiful seaside city appeared before us. I rubbed my eyes.

"Is it real?" Quatre asked, blinking and rubbing his eyes.

"It is!" Duo exclaimed. "Look! Hotels, cinemas, fast food restaurants! It's all here!"

"And we've been living off nature and in a stick shelter for the last 2 days?" Wufei growled. And sure enough, we had been. If only we had explored this side of the island sooner.

We all climbed down the cliff and headed straight for the first hotel we saw, Shady Constellation Inn. Oh no, my spidy senses are tingling again…

"Hi, I'd like to use the phone to make a long distance call please." Quatre said to the lady standing behind the counter. She gave us the once over, and I could see she wasn't thrilled about 6 dirty guys standing on the immaculately clean floor in the spacious and elegant hotel.

"And how will you be paying for it?" She asked in a voice as sweet as honey, but with a smile as acidic as vinegar. I leaned over to read her name tag. Dorothy. Go figures. Dorothys were always a bunch of pain in the rear ends, if you catch my drift. Too bad. She would've been cute if she weren't so evil.

"Oh." Quatre's smile faded. "Well, you see, that's a bit of a problem at the moment, hehehe." He laughed nervously when Dorothy's smile widened. "We, umm, we crash landed on the other side of the island and all our credentials and money burned in the wreck."

"Oh, that's too bad." Dorothy said, but I could tell she really wasn't sorry for us at all. For one thing, she was still smiling that evil smile of hers, and secondly she was picking up her phone and dialling a number.

"Hello Manager? I've got 6 stray puppies in the lobby who claim they crash landed on the other side of the island. They have no money, but want to make a long distance call. That's right. Uh huh. All right, I'll send them your way. Bye bye." She hung up, and turned back to us. If she noticed the glares she was getting, she didn't let on.

"The manager of the hotel seems to believe your story. He wants to meet with you. Go down the hall. It's the first door to the left. Have a nice day." She pointed us toward a hall, still smiling.

"Ewww. I hate Dorothys." Quatre shivered and shook himself. Probably trying to get rid of the grossness only associated with a Dorothy. We found the door with no problems, knocked, and entered. We were expecting to walk into a spick and span room with another Dorothy like figure sitting behind a spotless desk. Not a messy topsy-turvy room that looked like a war zone that could've easily been Duo's own bedroom.

"I assume you're the 6 stray puppies Dorothy was talking about, am I right?" A voice asked. It was such a mess in the room that it took us a good 5 seconds to locate the voice. It came from a figure that had his head stuck in a fridge. He was struggling with 6 cans of soda. But what really surprised me was that he was only a kid, no older than any of us!

"Are you the manager?" Heero asked, as shocked as I was.

"Yep! My name's Pietro. Have a seat. Grab a pop. Make yourselves at home." He grinned. "Boy, you don't know how happy I am to see people my own age. All I've got for company is that stuffy hag Dorothy, and she's as fun as a power outage."

Pietro looked like a surfer version of Quatre. His long blond hair was tied into a small ponytail and behind his ultra cool sunglasses was a pair of big dark blue eyes. He was wearing a yellow surfer shirt with khaki shorts.

"Cool clothes, man. I like your shades." Duo said, draining his can.

"Hey, thanks Bro. Righteous braid. Is it real?" Pietro countered. Freaky, he's like a stereotype from California. And even worse, Duo was somehow able to speak his 'language'. Good thing too, cause if this keeps up, I'm gonna need a dictionary.

"Yeah, it's real. I'm 100% natural, baby." Duo grinned, helping himself to a pack of chips.

"Umm, I hate to interrupt the party, but we sort of have a problem that needs to be solved." Quatre was staring at Pietro, no doubt a little freaked out by the likeness between them.

"Right. Right. Business first. Here's a phone card with 4 hours worth of free calling time. And here are some hotel keys. They'll get you access to a few rooms so you guys can clean up a bit. No doubt Dorothy will freak if you drop so much as a speck of dust on her clean floors. Oh and here is a thousand dollars, on the house. You'll probably want to buy some more clothes and personal belongings."

"Wow! That's very generous of you." Quatre smiled. The rest of us mumbled our thanks. Pietro waved it away.

"No problem. Glad I can help you guys. Say, how would you all like to meet me at the beach for lunch. I can give you the grand tour of the city and teach you how to surf!"

"Cool!" We agreed. Finally, our vacation was starting to feel like a vacation.

That night, after making all our individual necessary calls, we all crowded around the vidphone. Quatre was going to call Zechs and demand an answer to all our questions. What none of us noticed at the time was a slight shiver in the transmission.

"Hello." Zechs' face appeared on the screen, he looked angry.

Heero pushed his way in front of Quatre, "Zechs, you've got a lot of explaining to do."

"Heero? Where are you guys? Relena's been frantic. Hey! John Webster! Where are you guys? What happened?" Zechs looked like all his anger had just melted into thin air and was replaced with worry.

"Don't play innocent with me, Mister. You know very well that you told me to land on this bizarre island." John spoke up.

"What? What island? I never said anything remotely close to that."

"You mean you don't remember when I asked you what to do with the strange note?" John asked.

"What note? Hey, are you going to explain what's going on here?!?"

We took it in turns to explain to Zechs what had happened in the last three days. He was shocked.

"Apparently someone impersonated me and tried to either kill you guys or have you detained. I'll send a plane there for you immediately." And with that, Zechs' image faded from the screen. But not before we noticed a shiver in the transmission. Someone had been eavesdropping on our call.

"Wow. The plot thickens." Duo said as he slurped through his third milkshake.

"Ow. My head hurts from all this espionage." Quatre threw himself onto a bed, burying himself under a pillow.

"Barton! Are you ever going to finish this damn story?"

"Sorry Wufei. I'm almost complete. Just a few more paragraphs."

"A few more paragraphs? A few _more_ paragraphs? Barton, if you don't finish this stupid, retarded story soon, I'm going to finish it for you."

"Fine, okay. Geez."

To make a long story short, we stayed an extra three days on the island. Relena and the crew stayed here with us, sort of like a double vacation. On the last day, before we all went our separate ways, us 5 boys were called over the P.A. system to meet Zechs by the hotel pool.

When we got there we found everyone waiting for us. Relena, Hilde, Sally, Noin, Une, and two Zechs. Wait a minute! _Two Zechs!?!_

"I found our little impersonator. Apparently she was getting ready for more mischief." The real Zechs smiled, and pulled off the mask that was hiding…Dorothy Catalonia?!?

"YOU!" Quatre screamed pointing a finger at the Dorothy we knew for years.

"Yes, me." She said calmly. "It was getting so boring around here. No wars to fight. Paper work day in and day out. I wanted some excitement. So I created a little trouble, all in the name of fun, of course." Dorothy smiled a little, running an elegantly manicured finger over her forked eyebrows.

"Hehehe…Game time!" Duo screamed as he logged onto the Internet. He'd been itching to play this new online game forever. With the week he's been through, it's no wonder he's so happy. Ah, to be at home again.

"See Wufei, I finished the story in 5 small paragraphs." I said as I saved my work onto my laptop. I'm actually going to write my book, _How to Stay Away From Bad Ideas by: Trowa Barton. _One of Quatre's sisters is going to publish it for me.

"Yes, but if you didn't have to tell the story with every single bit of detail, you would've been finished 4 chapters ago." Wufei popped another Starburst into his mouth.

"Yeah, but it makes for interesting read, told this way."

"No it doesn't. I for one nearly fell asleep halfway through this chapter and I'm not even sure if the readers bothered to get this far."

"Oh, put a sock in it, Wuffers." Duo finished his game in second place, not bad for a guy who started playing a week after it came out.

"Yeah Wufei. Trowa was going for accuracy, not length." Quatre was sitting on the sofa, flipping through the channels on the T.V. while playing chess with Heero.

Heero had finally gotten his wish at a table tennis rematch with Zechs while we were on the island. He's currently in possession of the Best Table Tennis Champion with the Coolest Hair Ever award. It's said that he polishes it every night before he goes to bed. Hehehe…

Ah, well as you can see, we're back to normal (_Crash!_ "Sorry Trowa, I'll fix it!") or as normal as we'll ever get around here. See ya!


End file.
